


I'll Teach You to Dance

by Schwilliam



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Comedy, Fluff, M/M, Noah's Arc - Freeform, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 13:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7846072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schwilliam/pseuds/Schwilliam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts with a dance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. All About Us

**Author's Note:**

> So in order to make myself feel better about the end of season three I decided I needed a new ship. And I found this rarepair. Chapters are song titles from this lovely playlist I found, and you should all give a listen to it since it gave me so much inspiration.  
> http://8tracks.com/eranthyaenoire/i-ll-teach-you-to-dance

The festivities that night seemed to be calming down at the Beacon Prom. No one could really top the sudden routine Team JNPR had done, and the words on everyone's lips was just how well the team leader had pulled it all off. Most of the students saw Jaune only as the outgoing but clumsy leader, so afterwards most of the students had a kind of newfound respect for him. Teams RWBY and JNPR, plus Sun and Neptune, had convened at a table together and were either on the dance floor or listening to the music and conversing. Weiss sat and watched as Neptune danced-- or, rather, his attempts to dance. With his motions being so stiff and jerky, it looked more like he was trying to shake a bug off his suit and wasn’t sure where it had gone. 

“How can someone so cool be….so awkward?”

Yang, who’d just sat down from a round of actual dancing herself, only had to follow Weiss’ gaze to see what she meant. 

“Wow. You aren’t kidding, but I thought he shot you down. You’re still into him?”  
“Maybe? I don’t know. It’s weird.”  
“You’re weird.”

Weiss glared and gave Yang a pout, which earned her a snicker and a soft fist to the shoulder. 

“Whatever. If anything, I just want him to not look so awkward out there. For his sake.”  
“Go show him how to dance then.”  
“I can’t! He already turned me down for his date tonight. I can’t just ask him to do something so personal.”  
“Well, I guess you’ll have to find someone else to teach him. Jaune could maybe do it? Dude had some moves.”

Weiss looked taken aback and shook her head furiously.

“That’s crazy, Yang. It’s different being with a woman in a dress and heels.”  
“What, you want me to lend Jaune mine then? They might fit.”  
“You’re missing the point! Jaune isn’t the standard of person to teach someone as high class as Neptune.”  
“I think you’re worried he’ll show you up.”

Weiss groaned loudly and stood up, her chair scraping loudly on the floor. She made her way to Jaune and Pyrrha, who hadn’t seemed to notice anything. With one last look of annoyance at Yang, Weiss faced the couple and cleared her throat, her expression switching to a friendly smile. 

“Excuse me, Pyrrha, would you mind if I borrowed Jaune for a moment? I need him to help me with something.”  
Jaune and Pyrrha exchanged a glance and Pyrrha shrugged and smiled. 

“Of course, Weiss. I’m sure Jaune would be happy to.” 

Jaune blushed a little at the attention from the girls and cleared his throat before standing up. He realized Weiss already started heading onto the dance floor, and ran to catch up with her. Smoothing out his dress slightly, he sighed.

“Gosh Weiss. If you wanted to dance, you coulda just asked.”  
“Oh no. I don’t want to dance, but I need you to teach someone how.”  
“Um, why?”

Weiss cocked her head in Neptune’s direction. While trying to do a sprinkler routine, he got too close and nearly smacked Professor Port in the face.

“Oh.”  
“Exactly.”  
“Uh, Weiss? I don’t know how to tell you this, but I don’t think I want to.”  
“Believe me, I don’t want you to either, but sacrifices must be made for this boy to learn how to function at a social event like this.”  
“No, like I mean... why would I want to help the guy learn how to dance? It’s like the one thing he can’t do. He’s super cool, good looking and can probably fight pretty well. He doesn’t need another edge.”  
“Jaune, look at him. If he keeps this up, none of that will matter. It’s social suicide to carry on this way.”

Jaune scratched the back of his head and stared at the floor, shoulders sagging. His good mood from talking with Pyrrha is now nothing but the past. 

“Why can’t you do it?”  
“I am not having this conversation with someone else. Jaune, you’re a good person who wants to be his best for his friends, right?”  
“Right…”  
“So, what better way is there to get over your insecurity of him being better than you and stop him from doing...whatever this is?”

Neptune’s dancing transformed into what seemed almost like flailing. Most of the students around him started giving him a wide berth in order to not be hit. 

Jaune winced at the sight and sighed heavily. 

“I...fine. I’ll try my best. You really owe me for this, Ice Queen.”

Weiss rolled her eyes at the nickname and nodded. Jaune took a deep breath and crossed to Neptune, who’d started calming down as the current song playing came to an end. He gave Jaune a wide grin as soon as he noticed him. His sparkling white teeth, and the slight sweat glistening on his tan skin caused Jaune to pause and blush slightly. 

_This guy is too cool for his own good…_

“Jaune! Hey! What’s going on, man?”  
“Well I...ugh, how do I put this? Remember when we talked about why you didn’t take Weiss to prom?”

Neptune frowned and folded his arms.

“Dude, don’t tell everyone here my problem. That’s my secret.”

Jaune stared at him in confusion for a moment before looking around the dance floor. How could he even think it was a secret if everyone around them moved to be out of his way?

“Anyway...I-- I guess I wanted to ask. Would you like me to teach you?”  
“What?”  
“Teach you how to dance.”

Neptune pursed his lips and seemed to be sizing up Jaune and the situation. 

“I don’t know, dude. A lot of that stuff you did with your team earlier was cool and all, but it seemed a bit, I don’t know, advanced.”  
“Well, we can just start with something slow and easy, I guess?”

Neptune opened his mouth to speak against the idea, but he was interrupted by a soft and smooth sound from the speakers. The pair looked around as other couples started to move together for the slow dance. Jaune groaned inwardly but gave Neptune a smile and held out his hand. 

“Come on. I’ll lead.” 

Neptune hesitated for a moment then took Jaune’s hand in his lightly. Jaune placed Neptune’s left hand on his waist, and took his right to hold, while his left hand was on Neptune’s right shoulder.

“Okay. We can just sort of stay like this for now.”

Neptune swallowed and nodded, keeping quiet. Jaune nudged at Neptune’s dress shoes and started to move slowly, turning them. 

“Just move with me. Take your time.”

Neptune nodded hurriedly. He shifted too quickly and stepped on Jaune’s foot, earning a wince from the blonde. 

“Take your time, dude.”  
“I’m sorry. Crap, I told you I can’t do this. I suck!”

A soft squeeze of Jaune’s hand on his shoulder made Neptune quiet down and look into the other boy’s eyes. 

“It’s fine. Just move with me. Watch my feet if you need to. Pretend I’m a girl or something. The dress should help, right?”  
“Why would I wanna see your feet when I can look at you, beautiful?”

Jaune reddened at the comment and Neptune realized what he’d said out loud. 

“Agh, sorry! You said pretend you're a girl, so I just immediately thought to compliment you or something.”  
“N-no, it’s all cool, dude.” 

The pair both chuckled as they resumed the slow dancing. The soft music was the only sound between them. As they continued for what felt like ages, Neptune started looking up from his feet and more at Jaune. They shared another smile and Jaune even started laughing. 

“You know, if you keep learning, maybe I’d even let you try to spin me. But that may be too advanced.”  
“Hey, shut up! I can handle that. It’s easy.”  
“We’ll see.”

As the song came to a close, the pair realized they’d slowed down to just swaying in place while holding on to each other. There was a few claps for the DJ and the two boys moved their hands from each other. In letting go of each other's hands, they lingered for just what felt like a moment too long. It was Neptune who spoke first.

“Thanks a lot for that, man. You really didn’t have to do all of that.”  
“No, and I didn’t want to at first. But hey, you weren’t a jerk about it, so thanks to you too.”  
“Well, next time I need another lesson, you’ll be my first call.”  
“That could be cool. Just hanging out and stuff... yeah...”  
“And by the way, you look really great in that dress.”

There was a moment of awkwardness between them as the beat of the next song picked up and Yang shouted that this was her jam from across the room. Jaune shook his head and scrubbed at his face, trying to get himself back together.

“I should probably get back with our gang-- w-well, I mean, we can. We should.”  
“Yeah, that sounds good to me. Maybe you can teach me more later if there’s another slow song or something?”  
“We’ll see.”

The pair headed back to the table where Pyrrha and Weiss were sitting. Pyrrha smiled brightly while Weiss stared, her expression hard to read.

“You two looked like you were having a lot of fun out there!”  
“You could say it was a learning experience.”  
“Learning can always be fun, Jaune.”

As the two boys went to their chairs, Jaune nudged Weiss on the way.

“Hey, thanks for the idea. Wasn’t so bad.”

Weiss just shook her head and muttered to herself.

“Unbelieveable.”


	2. Love at First Sight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyyyy look I can actually update something. Hella wowzers. Hope you all enjoy!

Neptune’s blood was still pumping from the festival match. One more victory for Team SSSN and he and his team had decided that they needed to have a big celebration for getting so far ahead in the tournament. The teams from Haven had gotten together and hit all the hot spots in town. After the third club, Neptune found himself both very hot and very drunk. Sun and Scarlet were on the dance floor together. There was a sense, a feeling that stirred deeply within him while he watched. It felt strange, but it felt right. 

Something about the dance floor was making him remember back to the prom. Maybe it was the warmth in the space, or maybe it was the way the music filled the room. He remembered Jaune holding his hand and the pair of them just enjoying the time they spent. If he was here...what would that be like?

Neptune shifted in his seat so that he was facing Sage, causing the leather cushion to squeak. The larger boy was looking solemn as ever despite nodding his head to thumping bass music. 

“Sage!”

The green haired boy turned to face him.

“I can hear you.”  
“Dude, it’s super loud as hell in here! I don’t know that.”  
“What is it?”  
“I think I’m drunk.”  
“You are.”

Neptune rolled his eyes and swatted at Sage. He was lost in his own thoughts for a moment before looking back at Sage. 

“Dude, why didn’t we invite anyone else?”  
“We invited our classmates.”  
“Yeah, but what about the other guys from Beacon?”  
“They had their own celebrations for each other, I’m sure. It’s just a school thing.”

Neptune pondered on this and realized that he indeed hadn’t been invited to any parties after getting into the finals. Either everyone was a bunch of jerks, or didn’t know how to have fun. A party for a special event like passing a big test, or, in this case, a high intensity combat scenario, was part of life and they should join in the practice. 

“I’m gonna ask ‘em to come.”  
“Nep, it’s like three in the morning.”  
“Shit! Really? Hope I don’t wake anyone.”

Sage gaped as Neptune was already on his scroll and dialing in a number. Sage reached over to stop the blue haired boy, but somehow Neptune managed to slide away from his grasp and under the table. 

***

The blonde back at Beacon yawned and looked at his scroll, trying to process why the thing was ringing so late at night. The caller ID showed the familiar face of Neptune and Jaune felt a moment of worry. Had something happened to a teammate of his? Trying to shrug off the sleep that was still trying to pull him back to his pillow, Jaune selected the answer button and was immediately greeted with loud techno music. 

_Heyyyyyy Jaune!_

Jaune nearly dropped his phone in panic trying to tone the volume down. The other members of Jaune’s team didn’t seem to notice and were still lost in sleep. 

“Neptune is that you?”  
_Hey buddy yeah! Where are you?_  
“Um, in bed. Trying to sleep. It’s way late, man.”  
_Awww, okay. I wanted to see you tonight. We’ve been celebrating and I don’t have anyone to dance with._

Jaune sighed, but a small smile rose to his face at the thought.

“Well, thanks for considering me a good partner.”  
_Duh, man. You’re great at this stuff. But I dunno how well you’d be at this...stuff._  
“What do you mean by that?”  
_Club stuff like this. I don’t know-- a lot of bump and grind. You seem too good for this._  
“Dude, how drunk are you if I’m what you’re thinking about seeing that?”  
_Please Jaune, you looked great in that dress and have the best moves. You’re a great combo._

Jaune blushed deeply and gave a small laugh at the compliment. 

“Well, thanks. You’re not so bad yourself I guess.”  
_You guess? I’m the full package Arc-angel._  
“Yeah, you’re super drunk. Do you need someone to come get you?”  
_I need you to come and dance with me._

Jaune sighed heavily into the receiver and shook his head, starting to become a little more worried and agitated. 

“Neptune, if you’re this drunk, I can only imagine what your team is like. I’m gonna come get you ok?”  
_Awwwww yeah! This is gonna be the best party ever. Sage! Jaune’s coming!_

There was the sounds of what sounded like Neptune, shouting and whining, and his scroll being fumbled around before a new voice spoke up.

_Jaune, I’m sorry Neptune has been bothering you. You should go back to sleep. We’ll make sure he gets home safe._  
“Sage? Oh, uh, I mean-- it’s fine. I’m kind of awake already. I can just come and bring him back to the dorms or something?”

Jaune flinched as more whining and what sounded like a crash blare from his scroll.

_On second thought, maybe he would be better with a place to lie down and someone who can take care of him._  
“So I should come over, right?”  
_Correct. I’ll send you the club location. I’m sorry again for the trouble, Jaune._

The call ended before Jaune could reply. His scroll’s lighting dimmed down, leaving him in complete darkness. Nora was snoring away, so Jaune took the noise to change out of his pajamas and into a regular hoodie and jeans to head out. As he went to turn the knob of the door to leave he heard a soft creak from behind. He turned around to see Pyrrha sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes in the dark. 

“Jaune? Is everything ok?”  
“Uh yeah. Just got a call from Neptune. He’s a little...gone... at a club with the guys. So I offered to go pick him up.”  
“Oh. Well I hope everything will be alright. Do you want me to come with you as well?”  
“Nah, I’ll be fine. You’ve got to rest up for practice anyway. You’re gonna do great in finals.”  
In the soft glow of the moonlight, Jaune could make out a smile on Pyrrha’s face.

“Alright, well, tell Neptune hello for me and that I hope I’ll get to see him after the fights.”  
“I know you will.”

Pyrrha curled back up under the covers as Jaune opened the door and slipped into the hallway, making his way to the town trains.

***

Jaune could feel the beat of the base matching his pulse while standing outside the club. He wasn’t sure what he was so nervous about-- maybe he was just worried about Neptune. The bouncer outside made him hesitate. Although the man looked half asleep, Jaune wasn’t about to try and get in around the guy. Taking out his scroll, he pulled up Neptune’s contact and called him, hoping this would be an easier to understand conversation. The ringback only sounded twice before Sage answered. 

_Jaune. Are you outside?_  
“Uh yeah, I’m not sure if I can come in exactly or not so I figured Nep could come outside and I can take him to the station.”  
_That’s acceptable. I’ll walk him out to you._

Hanging up, Jaune wrapped his arms around himself. The fall weather was starting to set in, and he was feeling somewhat cold in the late night. A sudden thump made him jump as he looked to the door. It creaked open, and a very drunk Neptune pressed against the door frame. Sage sighed with exasperation from behind.

“I told you I would get the door, Nep.”  
“Dude, I was already here! The door had nothing on it...me...whatever.”

Jaune looked between the two of them. Sage merely shrugged at the blonde as Neptune looked over and a goofy grin spread across his face. 

“Jaune! You came to dance with me!? Sage, look! Jaune came.”

Neptune rushed forward on wobbly legs and pulled Jaune into a tight hug. Jaune offered a soft squeeze back and looked to Sage for some kind of help. Sage shook his head and cleared his throat.

“Just make sure Neptune gets somewhere safe to sleep. If he has a hangover, that’s his own fault. We’ll come get him back sometime tomorrow. Well...today now, I guess.”

Sage waved at the pair. Shaking his head, he turned around and went back into the club. Jaune tried to speak up but was interrupted by Neptune who’d removed himself and was waving back at Sage.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of Jaune!”  
“I think, he meant for me to get you back to the dorms.”  
“Wait, what? We’re leaving?!”

Neptune pouted and took Jaune’s hand. He tugged him toward the entrance...that is, he tried to. 

“Neptune, we’re going home. It’s three in the morning and I’m tired and cold.”  
“Cold? Oh, dude, sorry. Hold on.”

Neptune let go of Jaune’s hand and slipped his trademark red jacket off. He grinned and draped it over Jaune’s shoulders. 

“Better?”

Jaune stiffened as he looked over at Neptune. His usually well combed hair was tousled and damp from the heat of the club and his dancing. The goggles on his forehead were around his neck and his tie and upper shirt buttons were undone. For as ruffled up as the boy was, he still looked perfectly put together with this look, and Jaune’s cheeks started to match the jacket he now had on. 

“See? I’m warming you up already.”  
“Uhhh... yeah. Eheh... But come on, we should probably get going to the train station.”  
“Which way is that?” 

Jaune groaned but stuck out his hand and took Neptune’s and began leading them down the street. Neptune smiled and followed along humming a tune that he picked up at the club as the pair began their trek.

By the time the pair had arrived at the station and gotten on the train back to Beacon, Neptune had started coming down from his buzz and was falling asleep against Jaune in their seats. Jaune settled on letting him take a nap since Neptune obviously needed it. The nap didn’t seem to last long; Jaune looked down to find Neptune had entwined their fingers together. The blue haired boy stared with heavy-lidded eyes.

“Neptune? You ok?”  
“Why’d you come get me?”  
“What?”  
“Why’d you come out at three in the morning to pick up my drunk ass from a club when I know you sure as hell don’t like me?”

Jaune turned a little to face the other boy, annoyed.

“Where did that all come from?”  
“You said it yourself: that I didn’t care about girls’ feelings. You knew I turned down Weiss, who you wanted to be with. And instead of telling me how big of an ass I was and leaving it at that, you give me advice on how to actually talk to her. Then you danced with me, and now you’re here. Jaune, you’re too freaking nice.”  
“Neptune...you might be a shallow and self centered idiot sometimes, but that doesn’t make you a bad person. You wouldn’t have listened to me or accepted my help then or now if you were.”

Neptune was silent, and the two just stared at each other. The train slowed to a stop with a screech, alerting them of their arrival. Jaune stood first, wobbling a little when he realized Neptune was still sitting and holding onto his hand. 

“Hey, we gotta get you back to your room.”  
“Right...yeah.”

The pair made their way from the train and walked through the courtyard to the dorms. Only the occasional Atlas soldier was on the grounds, making Jaune worry just why they were all here in the first place. Even with the Grimm attack in the city that time, there wasn’t any reason he could find that would mean they had anything to fight, right? 

Going up the stairs was a bit of a struggle for Neptune, but they eventually made it to the front door of his room. Neptune finally let go of Jaune’s hand and dug through his pockets for the key.

“Shit.”  
“What?”  
“I uh...I think I dropped it.”  
“Dropped what?”  
“My key. It’s not in my pocket.”  
“Check your jacket?”

Jaune slipped Neptune’s jacket off and handed it to him, Neptune dropping it and staring at it on the floor and groaning before he slid to the floor and fumbled through the pockets. 

“Nnnnnnnnnope.”  
“Damn it Neptune, it’s way too late to try and go back.”

As if to push the point, Jaune let out a loud yawn. Neptune looked up and muttered under his breath and sat down, leaning against the door. 

“Go back to your room Jaune. I’ll just wait here for the guys.”  
“Dude, I’m not gonna just let you sit here till they come back whenever.”  
“You gonna break the door down or something then?”

Jaune stared at the door for a minute, seeming lost in his own head before Neptune spoke up.

“Don’t actually do that, please.”  
“No, it’s way too late to try that. I…”

Jaune swallowed and sighed.

“Do you want to just come stay at my place?”

Neptune looked up and raised an eyebrow. 

“Jaune, at least take me to dinner first.”  
“Shut up. All my teammates are still in the room, and you can sleep on the floor. We’ve got an extra pillow and some blankets I think.”  
“Whatever you say, man.”

Holding out a hand to lift Neptune up, the two trudged off to Jaune’s room with minimal stumbling and shushing. Nora was still snoring away, making Neptune snicker as Jaune was gathering the blankets and pillows and tossing them on the floor beside his bed. Neptune settled down on the floor and let out a stretch and a yawn. 

“Wow Jaune, didn’t think this would actually be that comfortable.”  
“Well hope you’ll say the same when you wake up hungover.”  
“Thanks for that warning.”  
“Not my fault.”  
“Whatever.”

Jaune lied down in his own bed, happy to finally be back in it and not having to wake up for a few more hours at least. 

“Hey, Jaune?”  
“Yeah?”  
“Thanks. And good night.”  
“Good night, Neptune”

***

Neptune felt the sun’s warmth on his face as he came to. His eyes fluttered open slightly. 

_Where the hell am I?_

He quickly regretted lifting his head up to look around; His head swam and a heavy pain went through his skull. 

“Okay. That’s why I don’t know.”

He lied back down slowly and shifted to try and get a grip on his surroundings. A pair of what looked like footie pajamas dangled on a clothes hamper’s rim. Well, that wasn’t owned by anyone on his team, so he had to be in someone else’s room. He noticed a red jacket hanging on the bedpost of the bed next to him. Now that he recognized. However, realizing there was a bed next to him, Neptune decide to ignore the pounding in his head to try and crawl up into it. After about five minutes of what felt like the most agonizing time of his life, Neptune managed to clamber into the empty bed and lied there face down. The bed smelled not at all like anyone on his team, nor a girl that he figured he may have gone home with. In fact, it was strangely familiar.

The soft creak of the door behind him drew Neptune out of this musing. Jaune waved slightly.

“Oh good, you’re awake and alive.”  
“That’s...debatable. What am I doing here?”  
“Do you really not remember?”

Neptune stared while his brain started to piece things back together. 

“Whose bed is this?”  
“Uh, mine.”  
“We use the same shampoo, dude.”  
“Psssh, what? I’m a cool dude who smells like Arctic Chill.”  
“Jaune, that’s Crisp Morning Air.”  
“...Fair enough.”

Neptune grimaced and rolled over so he could look at Jaune properly. The blonde had a few pieces of toast and a glass of water.

“Pretty light for breakfast, dude.”  
“No, this is yours. Pyrrha said it would probably be better than one of Ren’s green drinks.”  
“She’s probably right.”

Jaune laughed a little at that and sat down on the bed before handing Neptune the plate and water. Neptune felt his stomach trying to turn over but also empty and wanting food. Biting into the toast and trying to get something in him resulted in him moving too quickly. His head pounded again. 

“Chill man. It’s not a race.”  
“Buh I’m huhgry--”  
“Swallow your food.”

Neptune’s throat was dry, but the water at least helped. He found himself drinking too fast as well.

“I swear to God, if you’re sick now and throw up in my bed…”

Coughing and slowly shaking his head, Neptune tried to motion that he’d be fine. 

“Where’s my team anyway?”  
“I have no idea. Sage said he’d come pick you up or something when they were sober enough.”  
“Pick me up? I would’ve been in our room.”  
“Well, you forgot your key at the club, apparently.”

Neptune propped himself up better and tried sifting through things more. The events at the club and after that were fuzzy. However, Jaune seemed to be a constant in the thought process. 

“God, what the hell was up with me last night?”  
“No idea. You were pretty drunk.”  
“I’m sorry about all of this, really.”  
“Eh, could’ve been worse. We held hands a lot.”  
“And you were okay with that?”  
“Sure. I’m okay with it.”  
“Okay with what?”  
“A guy holding my hand. What did you think I meant?”

Neptune’s heart seemed to catch in his throat, or maybe he was going to throw up. Something welled up inside of himself-- A kind of realization. His tan cheeks tinted red. 

Jaune looked into his eyes. The blonde looked concerned and he reached out a hand to feel against Neptune’s head. 

“You’re really warm, man. Should I get you some medicine?”  
“N-no. Uh, Jaune can we talk about last night?”  
“What about it?”  
“Have you ever been drunk before?”  
“No, I don’t think so.”  
“Well um, they say that what you say when you’re drunk...is usually what you say without a filter. You’re just honest about like everything.”  
“Oh…?”  
“Yeah.”  
“So you saying you wanted to see me at the club and all of that?”

Neptune flushed an even darker red and nodded softly. Jaune was unreadable but cleared his throat after a moment.

“Wow, uh... That’s interesting.”  
“I’m sorry. I don’t want this to be a problem.”  
“Why would it be a problem? We all like who we like. You’ve been cool with me, so I don’t have a reason to not be cool with you.”  
“So we’re cool.”  
“Definitely.”  
“Good. I wanted to be sure I still had a shot with you.”

It was Jaune’s turn to blush. He coughed awkwardly as he looked away. When he turned back to look at Neptune, the blue haired boy had a smirk on his face. Just everything about him screamed charm to Jaune. 

“I...I don’t know, man.”

Neptune’s face dropped and he leaned his head back with a groan.

“Shit. I didn’t even think if you were into me.”  
“No, no it’s not that!”  
“What?”  
“I just...I’ve never thought about it before. You’re super cool and charming and like you said, you’re a full package.”  
“Well, thank you for that. And hey, it’s okay. I’m not gonna rush you into anything.”  
“You shouldn’t rush anything with how you are right now.”

Neptune waved him off but they both laughed together. They were interrupted suddenly by the sound of Neptune’s scroll ringing. Jaune slipped the device out of Neptune’s jacket and handed it to him.

“Hello?”  
_Nep, it’s Sage._  
“Oh hey man. How’s it going?”  
_We’re all back at the room. Are you well enough to make it here?_  
“Yyyyeah, I think so. Jaune made sure I didn’t hurt myself. I lost my key though.”  
_I have it._  
“You what?”  
_Nep, you wouldn’t shut up about the guy. Consider this a favor._  
“You sly son of a bitch.”

Neptune heard Sage laugh on the other end of the line before he hung up.

“Everything went ok?”  
“Yeah, I’m just gonna head back to my place.”  
“You’ll be ok?”

Neptune moved off the bed and stood up. He staggered slightly, but was able to balance himself back.

“All good.”  
“Should I come with you or...?”  
“Nah. It won’t look like a walk of shame if it’s both of us.”  
“Dude!”

Neptune laughed. He took his jacket off the bedpost and slung it over his shoulders before moving to the door. Standing at the door, he nodded his head at Jaune.

“You’re not gonna show me out?”  
“Oh, so that’s fine?”  
“Yeah dude. It’s just nice to your guest.”

Jaune sighed and stood up crossing to Neptune who suddenly grabbed him by the front of the shirt.

“Nep--”

Jaune was cut off by the press of a pair of warm lips against his own. He’d expected a force behind them, and there was, in a way. A passion, but under the surface, not forcing himself onto him. Jaune’s eyes were wide but after a moment his eyes shut and he kissed back softly, placing a hand on Neptune’s cheek. They stood like that for about a minute, just the sound of breathing and their lips pressing lightly together before Neptune pulled away with the cocky smirk back again.

“We’ll have to set up a date after this tournament is over, won’t we Arc-angel?”  
“You...I’ll figure out a dumb name for you later.”  
“But that’s not a no I’m hearing.”  
“Yeah yeah. Get back to your place before your team wonders if you got lost.”

Neptune laughed and moved in to kiss Jaune once more before opening the door and heading off down the hallway. Jaune watched him walking away, a slight spring in his step and humming a tune. Jaune pressed a hand to his lips, still trying to process that what happened was real. 

“Jaune? Are you alright?”

Jaune turned to see Pyrrha walking from the other end of the hall. She smiled, but there was a hint of concern on her face.

“Uh... yeah. Just a nice morning.”  
“Well, that’s good. Was Neptune feeling alright?”  
“Yeah. He’s great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp that finally happened. Still a lot more to come, and thank you again for the read. Feedback is always appreciated :D   
> Also credit to nerdgasrnz, a fantastic tumblr artist who's done amazingly cute comics, for "Arc-angel" and is more creative than I could've ever thought to be with that.


	3. Objection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Hi. I'm alive still. And this is still a thing. Writing is hard.

One big blur. That’s what the past few weeks had felt like to Neptune. One day he was spending the day thinking about what his date would be like, and in the next few days, students were being maimed and killed at the Tournament. It all came to a head with the attack on Beacon Academy and in the chaos of it all, Neptune had lost track of Jaune. He hadn’t been able to call him; the line dead every time he tried. With the communications disrupted by the Grimm, it took a while before any news had spread. Eventually he found out about who’d been lost. 

Ozpin was a major shock, but once he read that Pyrrha had been lost as well, that’s when the darker emotions began to set in. The news said there had been no bodies found, but they were presumed dead. Neptune wanted to believe that maybe there was still a chance that they were alive. The main thought running through his head though was on Jaune. They hadn’t spoken still and Neptune knew it would take a while to get all the reports in of who made it. 

After all the students had been sent home, Neptune found himself trying to find any way of contacting Jaune, but since the CCTS had been destroyed it would mean he couldn’t communicate with Vale, and would have to try and go on foot. With the increased Grimm activity, most messengers would require a huntsman or a team to go on deliveries. The boats and airships willing to go from Mistral to Vale were only for aid, and even with his family having enough wealth to afford the transport, they weren’t willing to send their son across the sea just to see if his friend was ok. 

Weeks turned into months with Neptune continuing to train at Haven. The school was on edge and had students on a bit more of a leash, not wanting things to fall apart like at Beacon. But on some rare days, the students were allowed out on the town to have a break. Things had honestly been more quiet than usual since Sun had just left them, probably to follow Blake. Neptune had opted out of going into town with Sage and Scarlet, but the two had essentially dragged him out with them. The trio were just walking the streets, trying to figure out what they were going to do. Or at least Sage and Scarlet were. Neptune seemed to have much more interest in a game of kick the can. 

The other two boys glanced at each other and Scarlet mumbled something about seeing if a nearby restaurant was open. Sage nodded at him and turned to Neptune, giving him a slight nudge. 

“How long are you going to be angry at him?”

Neptune glanced up at Sage, a frown crossing his face.

“Angry? Who’s angry? I’m not. Why would I be angry? It’s not like anyone did anything to make me mad.”  
“Neptune, you’re rambling.”  
“Yeah well so what?”  
“Look, if something is on your mind, you can talk to me about it.”

Neptune folded his arms and leaned against the wall, grumbling to himself.

“At least you’d listen to me…”  
“Neptune, you know we wouldn’t have been able to stop him from running away.”  
“Yeah well why didn’t we at least try?”

Neptune glared over at Sage, who simply sighed and moved to lean next to him. 

“Because Sun cares about Blake too much to leave her on her own.”  
“What about us then?! What are we to him? Just some guys who aren’t as important?”

Sage put a hand on Neptune’s shoulder, feeling the blue haired boy starting to shake.

“Neptune, she’s on her own. We’re all still here together.”  
“Yeah well what if something happens to him? We’re never gonna know because his stupid monkey butt had to run off without us. It’s not fair. We would’ve helped him.”  
“Would you have let us stop you if you wanted to find Jaune?”

Neptune’s eyes widened before he lowered his head, his arms loose by his side. Sage gripped his shoulder softly and stepped closer to Neptune. 

“I know you miss him, and it’s hard not knowing. But you have to trust them. They’re both capable of taking care of themselves.”  
“I know that! I just...there’s been people killed. This stuff isn’t supposed to be happening to us.”

Neptune looked up to Sage, tears starting to well up.

“Neptune, when was it supposed to happen then?”  
“What…?”  
“This is what our job is. We’re hunters. We fight Grimm and we protect people. Sometimes...we die. But that’s not a reason to stop fighting. We keep living for them. Jaune will keep living for Pyrrha. We all can keep living for her.”  
“But she’s not out there anymore! Sun is on his own, Jaune is on his own, and I feel like I’m on my own. I can’t do anything to help them.”

The tears had started to stream down Neptune’s face at this point, prompting Sage to pull him into a tight hug. 

“All we can do for now, is wait for them. But if you decide at a point that you want to go find one of them, I won’t stop you. I just want you to be ready.”

Sage heard a sniffle and what felt like a nod against his chest and smiled lightly, patting Neptune’s back a little.

“So let’s go do some living Nep.”

Neptune pulled back rubbing away at his eyes as Scarlet approached the pair, a soft smile on his face.

“You lads figure things out?”

Neptune nodded again and grinned a little bit.

“Yeah, so we eating or what?”  
“You know it!”

The trio of SSN bunched together with arms around each other’s shoulders, marching along to the restaurant together.

***

After everything that had happened, Neptune didn’t think he could be surprised anymore. But a few weeks after his talk with Sage, he hadn’t expected to see Jaune was now within communication range on his scroll. Meaning he was in Mistral now. Neptune didn’t care that he was in the middle of a class, citing a sudden family emergency as an excuse when his professor shouted at him for leaving. Sage and Scarlet both shared a confused look, but neither made a move to stop him.

Rushing down the halls of Haven and heading towards the entrance, Neptune had already started calling Jaune. 

“Pick up, pick up, please pick up…”

The ringback went a few more times, and as Neptune found himself outside Haven, he heard a click.

_Hello?_  
“Jaune! Oh my God, Jaune you’re alive.”  
 _What?! Neptune, of course I’m alive. Why wouldn’t I be?”_  
“Jaune, a lot happened between when we saw each other last. I haven’t had any clue about what’s been going on.”  
 _It’s...complicated. We’re actually on our way to Haven._  
“Where from? I can come get you.”  
 _Neptune, don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine, we’ve handled...a lot. Already. We’re on our way now to Haven on an airship._   
“Oh thank...wait what’re you doing on one of those?”  
 _We can talk about it when we get there._  
“Alright. Oh hang on, who’s we?”

There was a sudden noise on the other end and Neptune could hear Jaune protesting as a new voice was heard faintly. 

_Hey group up guys, we could use something fun! Annnnd…._

Neptune heard a click and in a few moments he received a notice of a new message. He saw Ruby, Nora, Jaune and Ren pulled in together. Ruby and Nora had wide grins on, Ren was smiling calmly, and Jaune had a sheepish look and what seemed to be the start of a blush creeping across his cheeks. The scroll sounded like it was being fumbled around again, and Jaune cleared his throat.

_Anyway, we’ll be there soon._   
“Good, I can’t wait. I...I missed you Jaune.”

There was a moment of silence, before Jaune answered back in a whisper.

_Missed you too._  
“See you then.”

Jaune hung up and Neptune held his scroll close to his chest before taking a deep breath and looking back at the picture of the gang. Jaune was going to be here. It felt like a dream come true. 

***

Neptune was practically bouncing in place as the airship landed at the Haven air docks. As the ship doors opened he started waving frantically and saw Ruby hopping up and down waving as well. What he didn’t see or expect was the medical crew onboard to rush off the ship with a man Neptune had never seen before. As they went by, he could see the man looked pale and what looked like blood around his mouth. He looked from the crew and back to the ship, which Ruby had ran off and up to Neptune.

“Hey Neptune! It’s great to see a friendly face again.”  
“Uh, yeah you too Ruby, where’s the rest of the group?”  
“Oh they’re just getting the rest of their things together.They’ll be out soon. I’ve gotta go with Uncle Qrow though. We’ll catch up later, promise.”

Ruby gave Neptune a quick hug and was gone in a flash, leaving him slightly bewildered. Shaking it off and looking back at the ship, he saw Ren, Nora, and Jaune stepping out together. Ren and Nora were holding hands, which seemed to be a new development if he remembered correctly. But more importantly, Jaune. He was tugging on his backpack straps and staring at the ground, seemingly lost in his head, until he looked up at Neptune. 

The two boys made eye contact and Neptune couldn’t feel anything but his feet hitting the ground as he rushed forward. Neptune almost bowled Jaune over as he wrapped his arms tightly around the blond. He felt Jaune stiffen in his arms for a moment, before he felt the embrace being returned.

“You have no idea how much I’ve missed you, beautiful.”

Neptune pulled back and gave Jaune a soft kiss on his forehead. Jaune blushed, but seemed to be holding something back. Letting go of the shorter boy, Neptune took Jaune’s hand and looked him up and down. The sun in the sky was slowly falling, the golden hues matching the accents on Jaune’s armor.

“Really I mean it. Digging the new armor too. Shows off how much of a shining star you are.” 

Jaune gave a weak smile and squeezed Neptune’s hand.

“It’s...I got a smith to help make it. Pyrrha’s armor and mine. Kinda like she’s always with me now.”

Neptune stared for a moment and swallowed.

“She meant a lot to you, it’s a good way to honor her. I’m sorry for what happened.”  
“Not like you killed her.”

Neptune coughed awkwardly and started to look for where the rest of Jaune’s group went.

“Yeah...uh, look, do you wanna get inside? The sun’s starting to set and we should find you a room to stay. We can make up for lost time. Sounds like you’ve been through a lot.”  
“Neptune, I…”

Jaune’s hand was loose in Neptune’s grip. Neptune looked at him, eyebrow arched in confusion. 

“Jaune?”  
“I...don’t think I can do this.”  
“Do what?”  
“This. Us.”

Neptune felt something inside him starting to build inside. Like his gut was telling him he needed to get away from this or he’d regret what would happen.

“Jaune, what’re you talking about?”  
“Pyrrha was the first person to see that I wasn’t useless. She understood me, and cared about me, and I just...I should’ve done more. And now she’s gone, and I’ll never get that chance.”  
“Jaune, what does that-”  
“I loved her! And I can’t just pretend like those feelings will go away because she’s gone. I do care about you Neptune, but I-I can’t just move on like this.”

Neptune felt Jaune’s hand slip from his, and the feeling inside started to well up even more.

“You’ll find someone else, whether it’s Weiss or I don’t know who. But we just aren’t going to work. I can’t leave her like that.”  
“Jaune...we...I thought we had something.”   
“We did. But I still didn’t know if I wanted that. And now I can’t want that.”

Neptune took a step back, the setting sun painting the sky in shades of autumn. 

“Ssss-so let me get this straight. You’re not even going to try to get over this?”  
“Neptune, I can’t-”  
“Jaune, I wanted to be out there with you! Every damn day I sat here hoping that somehow I’d find a way to find you and I don’t know, we’d make things work. But now I’m finding out that you’re just going to be miserable forever? You just want to grieve over Pyrrha for the rest of your life?! What the hell kind of life is that?”  
“Shut up! How the hell can you even understand what I’m going through?”

Jaune and Neptune both were starting to raise their voices in anger. Neptune, trying to take full advantage of his height, glared down into Jaune’s eyes.

“All that I’m understanding is that you’re never going to move on, and if you don’t learn how to then everyone around you will end up miserable.”  
“You’re so goddamn selfish Neptune! You’re thinking about your own feelings and not about mine. I’m hurting here and you can’t handle that I won’t date you now that the girl I loved is dead.”  
“No I can’t handle the fact that because she’s dead, you’ll never get over her and I’ll never have a-a chance for us to work out. It’s one thing to try and fight her for affections when she’s alive but now she’s just going to hold onto you from the grave and I’ll never be able to be good enough now!” 

Jaune grabbed Neptune by the shoulders and pulled him close enough that their faces were almost touching. At any other time Neptune would have appreciated the almost intimate moment, but right now…

“You’re such an idiot. You think I don’t want to be able to move on?”

Jaune’s blue eyes were cold, his teeth grit as he said those words.

“I think we could have been happy together, and you’re throwing away someone who could make you happy.”

Neptune shrugged out of Jaune’s grip and turned on his heel away from the other boy. 

“You know I hope you find whoever killed her, so that you can get over yourself. But I’m going to keep living for me, and I’ll live my life because maybe Pyrrha would want her friends to be happy, even after she was gone.”

Neptune turned back to give Jaune one last bitter look before he marched off to Haven. Jaune was standing tall, but the blue in his eyes was watering, and he had a shaking hand clenched around the handle of his sword. The last light of the sunset started to fade, time having run out for the day, and for them. The feeling in Neptune finally reached its peak as he got back to his dorm room and he realized what it was. Falling to his knees, sobbing heavily, Neptune let the hurt out of himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Godddddd this chap was sooooo hard to do, and I hate it. Rewrites and blocks and Season 4, all just fucked me up forever. Good news is though is that no more concerns about canon divergence after this. Sorry for the wait y'all and feel free to leave questions comments and concerns. I do see you even if I haven't replied. Cause I'm bad at this. Kthxbye.


	4. Like or Like Like

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fifteen years after Neptune last saw Jaune, Team SSSN are now successful hunters who travel Remnant helping those in need. A night at an inn with Sun leads Neptune to a chance encounter that could change his future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well look who's alive still. Somehow.  
> Sorry for the obnoxious wait y'all. I'm getting into a routine of writing like once or twice a week and trying to actually churn out some work, so hopefully some updates in the near future. Enjoy this tho.

“NEPTUNE! What are you doing!?”

Sage had yelled this at Neptune a lot over the past few years. During their years at Haven, after graduation when Nep and Sun had purposely bombed their own team photo, and during various missions whenever the blue haired man had done something completely ridiculous. This was one such moment.

“Hey! If Ruby could do this, then so can I.”

What Neptune was doing was holding onto the back of a very large and enraged Nevermore, as it flew over the heads of his team. With the wind blowing through his gelled back blue hair, and his long red coat fluttering behind him, Neptune could see why Scarlett said flying was enjoyable. The large black feathers being shot down at his team was a problem that he needed to handle though.

Gripping the beast tightly with one hand, Neptune pulled out his trident and began to strike the creature repeatedly, sending multiple shocks to its system. It let out a horrid screech as a it rolled in the air, trying to shake him off. Neptune was dangling now, gripping onto the staff of his weapon, before two streaks flew past him. Scarlet and Sun had been tossed into the sky by Sage, and the two latched on the Nevermore with him.

“Dude, you’re crazy!”

Sun was all smiles as he began monkeying his way across the bird and up towards its face. Scarlet helped pull Neptune up as the bird started to spin again. The two yelled and both held on tight as they felt the world seeming to shift downwards. The Grimm had begun to nosedive as Sun was beating at its beak, shotguns blasting away as he did. Sun was whooping and laughing, while Neptune and Scarlett were screaming as the bird shot down. A sudden deep yell rang out as Sage leapt from a tree below and swung his sword with full force through the Nevermore’s neck.

The bird’s head flew off, Sun still riding it as it crashed below into a pile of shadow. He flipped off as it did, and stuck the landing, before turning to see the large body dissolving. Scarlett and Neptune were holding each other, screaming still, as they smacked into the ground and rolled almost into Sun. Sage landed next to them, the ground cracking a little under his feet, as he rolled his shoulders.

“We did well.”

Sage gave a little smile, as he and Sun helped their teammates to their feet. Both were still dazed, and wobbled a bit as they did. Sun shook Neptune to try and bring him out of the stupor.

“Bro, we did it! I knew we could.”  
“Sun, if you shake me one more time, I swear I’m gonna throw up on you.”  
“Ew.”  


Sun pushed Neptune slightly away from him, but was still smiling.

“Come on. The village will have our payment for the job. And we’ll probably need the rest before heading back to the city.”

Sage had an arm around Scarlett, and was already leading him back to the town. Neptune shook the rest of his dizziness off and started following them. This was his life now. Fighting monsters, getting paid, and saving the day with his best friends. And he couldn’t be happier, right?

***

Neptune did feel a real happiness from the attention he was getting right now. The townspeople were more than happy to give the hunters who’d saved them free room and board at the local inn. For Sage, this meant being badgered by excited but well meaning people, and so he’d turn in early for the night. The other three used it as an excuse to party.

Sun had his arms around the shoulders of Scarlet and Neptune, and was swaying the three of them. Sun’s disposition seemed to match his name, and had been accepting drinks from whoever was buying. Scarlet was flushed from the drinks he’d been downing and as soon as Sun let go of him to reach for another shot, he promptly slumped over at the bar.

“Dude, are you really done already?”

Neptune snorted as Sun seemed taken aback at how soon Scarlet had gone down.

“Let him rest Sun. We all had a long day. Tracking and chasing and fighting. We need the break.”  
“Dude you’re hardly drinking.”  
“I’ve had like two beers.”  
“Exactly that’s nothing. We’re here to have fun and celebrate. Loosen up bud.”

Neptune rolled his eyes but smiled and finished his beer, waving his hand at the white haired bartender for another.

“Very sorry sir, we’re running a little low, but we should have a shipment in tonight though. The Grimm attack was keeping most of the suppliers from coming in. I could offer you something harder though, on the house of course.”  
“He’ll take…that one!”

Sun was leaning across the counter, and pointed out a tall bottle filled with dark brown liquid.

“Dude I think that’s the stuff that Ruby’s uncle drinks. I can just hold off for-”  
“Make it two my fine sir!”

The bartender shrugged and filled two glasses halfway.

“Make ‘em doubles.”  
“Sun, really?”

The glasses were filled more, and Sun passed one to Neptune.

“A toast!”  
“To…?”  
“Uh...I’m not sure. What do you wanna toast to?”

Neptune thought for a moment and clinked their glasses.

“To a good future.”

Sun beamed back and the two took a sip. Neptune coughed for a moment and swallowed, shaking his head.

“How the hell does that guy drink this stuff?”  
“No idea. But still, makes you feel like a real adult huh?”  
“We _are_ adults.”  
“You know what I mean.”

The night dragged on a bit more, as the two of them drank and reminisced. Neptune was always glad for Sun’s company. They’d been through so much after what happened at Haven with Cinder; helping Ruby and her team with all of the Salem stuff. And especially after what happened with Jaune. Sun hadn’t expected Jaune to have meant so much to Neptune, and it took a while after the fight between Jaune and Neptune, before Sun was willing to even talk to the other blonde. Even with Sun in his life though, there were times when Neptune felt lonely.

“Sun?”  
“Yeah dude?”  
"You know I love you and your company, right?"  
“Like who?”  
“I don’t know. Just, remember how back in the day I could put the moves on anyone?”  
“You can still do that. You’ve got girls falling all over you. Probably a few guys too.”

The two looked at each other for a moment, faces serious. Sun was the first to crack, and the pair broke out into a giggling fit. Neptune was leaning against the bar and eyed their empty glasses.

“Hey Swan, when’s that shipment coming again?”

The bartender glanced at Neptune, and squinted as he looked out the front windows.

“Oh he came in earlier. Been bringing in some boxes. He does deliveries for everyone, so he’s heading in and out. I can get that beer for you now though.”  
“Sounds good, thanks.”  
“Oh there he is now actually.”

Neptune turned, wobbling in his seat, as a figure walked through the front door. He’d opened the door and walked in with his back to the bar, holding a large box on one shoulder, and dragging a large burlap sack on the ground. He was in a sleeveless black hoodie and worn blue jeans with brown work boots on, and had bright shoulder length blonde hair in a ponytail.

“Damn, dude’s got nice arms. You should hit it.”

Neptune nearly fell off his stool as he whipped around to Sun, who had a devilish grin on his face.

“Wh-what? Dude, no way I’m not gonna do that!”  
“Oh come on Nep, it’ll do you some good.”

Sun moved in closer to Neptune and whispered.

“Look, you can put the moves on him, get a nice hookup, and we’ll be heading out of town soon enough. Or you get his number and you can have some kind of long distance thing, but you should at least try to get something.”

Neptune was burning up, and held his face in his hands at the thought. Swan was looking at the two young men like they were crazy, and looked back to the delivery man.

“Hey careful with those peanuts. I don’t want a big spill again.”  
“I’ve got it Swan!”

The bartender shook his head and sighed about needing to find less clumsy help.

“Dude, that’s your chance.”

Sun elbowed Neptune in the side and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder.

“Go help him out, and make your move dude. You’ve got this.”  
“I do, don’t I?”  
“Hell yeah! Go on.”  
“I got it. I got this!”

Neptune stood up on wobbly legs, making sure to slick his hair back in place. Taking in a deep breath, he turned on his heel and walked over to the blonde man who was trying to figure out how to get a better grip on the bag without putting the box down. Nep looked back at Sun, who gave him a smile and a thumbs up.

“Excuse me sir, I’ve had a rough night, but you look pretty strong. Think you could lift my spirits as easy as that crate?”

The man fumbled with the bag, and placed it back down before turning around.

“I’m sorry sir, but that was awfu-Neptune?!”

Jaune Arc blinked that old familiar pair of warm blue eyes, and Neptune felt himself freeze completely.

“Neptune! I can’t believe it’s you. Well actually, with that pick up line I should’ve expected it was you, but whoa how’ve you been?”

Jaune put the crate down, and pulled Neptune into a tight hug. Neptune seemed to have lost the ability to function, as he felt a warmth starting to fill up inside him. He hoped it wasn’t just the alcohol deciding to come back up. Jaune pulled away with smile, his hands holding on to Nep’s shoulders, and looked past him.

“Hey! Is that Sun? How’s it going man?”

Neptune slowly turned his head to see a rather shocked Sun weakly waving. Swan looked between them all and rolled his eyes.

“Jaune, can you please put that stuff where it belongs? You can hang out with your friends after that.”

Jaune looked back at the stuff he was carrying and shook his head.

“My bad, on it sir! Neptune don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right back.”

Jaune grabbed the box, and tossed the bag over his shoulder seeming invigorated by the meeting. He headed to the storeroom in the back of the bar, leaving a very stunned Neptune alone. Sun stumbled over to Neptune and grabbed his face to look him in the eyes.

“Dude, snap out of it. We can just go to our rooms and pretend this didn’t happen. There’s always other towns.”

Neptune was looking around, avoiding looking at Sun directly.

“Neptune!”  
“Ah, wha-what, what is it?”  
“Dude, if you’re not okay with seeing him we can leave.”  
“I...I don’t know. He seems better? It’s been years. Shit…”

Sun frowned and let out a sigh.

“If you think it’s okay then I’m okay with it, but if you start feeling uncomfortable we’re leaving. I’m here for you man. Bros before hoes.”  
“But Jaune’s a guy.”

The two smiled at each other and Sun flicked Nep’s nose.

“Shut up dude.”

They heard the backdoor open and turned to see Jaune walking in, dusting off his hands.

“You guys okay?”  
“Yeah we’re cool. Just having a bro moment.”

There was a strange silence through the bar, outside of the sound of Scarlet snoring.

***

Sun had helped Scarlet off to bed after giving Neptune one last look to make sure he was fine being alone.

Jaune had been all smiles and bright eyes, as he listened for a few hours to the stories of SSSN’s adventures. The blonde’s life had seemed less interesting however.

“Yeah, I guess I just realized it wasn’t for me?”

Jaune took a swig of his beer and shook his head.

“After everything we went through. All the fighting, the pain, the deaths. I just couldn’t deal with it after we ‘saved the world’ or whatever. Figured just settling back down would work better for me.”  
“Looks like it has man. Nothing against your skills, you just seem...happier.”  
“I’ve been happier. I still help out people from time to time, but I just like traveling if anything. Being on the move.”  
“So no plans on settling down?”  


Jaune snorted and downed the rest of his drink.

“No, I’m happy with how things are. What about you though?”  
“Me?”  
“You got any plans like that?”  
“Uh, no. Just haven’t found the right one I guess.”  
“Really? Figured the girls would be all over you.”  
“Oh yeah, feels like everyone is, but I want someone who’s not a fan, y’know?”  


Jaune waved over Swan for another drink and shrugged in response to the comment.

“I guess. Hundreds of people clamoring for your attention and wanting to be with you? Sounds pretty awful.”  
“Maybe for someone who doesn’t like the spotlight. You could always get back in the game.”  
“No thanks. Not going through a loss like that again”  


There was an awkward pause between them. Neptune looked down at the whiskey in his glass and sighed.

“You still miss her don’t you?”  
“...I don’t think I’ll ever not miss her, but some days are better though. Some days I feel like I should just move on. Like, she wouldn't want me to just be unhappy forever.”  


The two men looked at each other. Neptune saw a sorrow in Jaune’s eyes, some kind of regret.

“I’m sorry Neptune. I really am.”  
“What for?”  
“For acting how I did. You cared about me. I wasn’t just some guy you were flirting with. And I was just... angry. At everything. I took it out on you, and it wasn’t fair-”  
“Stop.”  


Jaune could see a hurt in Neptune’s eyes, and the blue haired man blinked back what looked like the start of tears.

“Jaune. You lost the woman you loved. She was always there for you. What did I expect? That you and me would just run off into the sunset together if she wasn’t there? We were both teenagers, and I wasn’t thinking about anything but my own feelings. I was just being an insensitive dickhead.”

Jaune’s hand slipped into Neptune’s.

“Dude, what are you talking about?”

Jaune gave Neptune a reassuring squeeze and smiled.

“I always remembered what you said that day. About how you’d be competing with someone who’s dead. And that was shitty to make you feel that way.”  
“But I wasn’t thinking about you! I was thinking about me...”  
“Neptune, stop...Can we just admit we were both being pretty shitty?”  


They both blushed, and Neptune found that he was holding Jaune’s hand back.

“Hey, let’s go talk about this upstairs?”  
“Oh, uh yeah. Sounds fine.”  


Neptune lead Jaune upstairs to his room, dragging him by the hand.

“Nep, slow down!”

Jaune was laughing and following behind Neptune, who turned back to face him as they got to the door.

“Just like back in the day, huh? But then again, this place isn’t as nice as the dorms at Beacon.”  
“It really has been ages hasn’t it. And you’re not drunk this time.”  
“Yeah, it’s been a bit sobering talking with you Jauney boy.”  


Jaune sighed heavily, and Neptune cocked an eyebrow.

“Something wrong?”  
“No I just...I missed this.”  


Neptune pulled Jaune close and grinned.

“I missed you too. But now we have the whole night to catch up.”  
“Yeah.”  


Jaune was looking down at their feet and Neptune moved to put a hand on Jaune’s shoulder.

“Jau-?”

Neptune felt the door at his back as Jaune pressed their lips together hard. He melted into the kiss and tried to match Jaune, who started to kiss him more fervently. Neptune’s free hand started moving down to fumble with the doorknob, and despite the distraction of Jaune’s body pressed flush against him, was able to let them in. The door slammed behind them, as the pair rushed into the room together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You didn't think I was gonna end it just with that right? We gonna have a rating go up next chap so get excited for that.  
> :D  
> Also a huge thanks to pennypuppet who inspired me to pick this back up again and helped come up with ideas, as well as my bestie poptartkittywoman who edited this for me.  
> Hope to see you all again in the nearer future and not like. Six months.  
> As usual pls kudos if you enjoyed and feel free to leave questions, comments, concerns, and critiques in the comments.

**Author's Note:**

> As there are eight tracks there is planned to be at least as many chapters, each progressing into the future of things. Stick around and see how things play out if you like, and thanks for the read :D


End file.
